Luff, Bourzgui, Jacobs to lead THE WHO'S TOMMY

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 9:21am

https://www.playbill.com/article/alison-luff-ali-louis-bourzgui-adam-jacobs-will-lead-new-production-of-the-whos-tommy-at-chicagos-goodman

Casting has been revealed for Goodman Theatre's upcoming 30th anniversary revival of The Who's Tommy, performing in the Chicago company's Albert Theatre June 13-July 23. Opening night is July 23, with the musical's Tony-winning original director, Des McAnuff, back at the helm of the newly reimagined production.

Leading the cast will be Ali Louis Bourzgui (The Band's Visit) as Tommy Walker, Adam Jacobs (Aladdin) as Captain Walker, and Alison Luff (Waitress) as Mrs. Walker, along with John Ambrosino (Les Misérables) as Uncle Ernie, Bobby Conte (Company) as Cousin Kevin, and Christina Sajous (SpongeBob SquarePants) as the Acid Queen (a role credited as "The Gypsy" in earlier iterations of the musical).

The ensemble will comprise Jeremiah Alsop, Stephen Brower, Haley Gustafson, Sheldon Henry, Aliah James, Gabriel Kearns, Tassy Kirbas Lily Kren, Nathan Lucrezio, Alexandra Matteo, Morgan McGhee, Mark Mitrano, Reagan Pender, Daniel Quadrino, Jenna Nicole Schoen, Zach Sorrow, Ayana Strutz, and Andrew Tufano. Rounding out the company are child actors Ava Rose Doty, Presley Rose Jones, Annabel Finch, and Ezekiel Ruiz, who will rotate playing Young Tommy.

The production will not be a remount of McAnuff's Tony-nominated 1993 original production. The director has assembled an all-new creative team, including choreographer Lorin Latarro, music supervisor and arranger Ron Melrose, scenic designer David Korins, costume designer Sarafina Bush, lighting designer Amanda Zieve, sound designer Gareth Owen, and projection designer Peter Nigrini. Casting is by Lauren Port and Rachael Jimenez with New York casting by Tara Rubin Casting's Merri Sugarman. Tripp Phillips will be production stage manager with Nikki Blue and Jason Hindelang serving as stage managers.

The cast will be backed by a nine-piece band led by pianist and conductor Rick Fox and will also include pianist and associate conductor Valerie Gebert, percussionist Bobby Everson, guitarist Chris Forte, horn player Jeremiah Frederick, bassist Larry Kohut, guitarist Felton Offard, keyboardist Rose Snyder, and drummer Jim Widlowski.

Updated On: 5/3/23 at 09:21 AM

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 9:25am

What a cast, but a nine piece band ? 

[thirtythirtyninety]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 9:35am

Please let this be good and come to NYC!!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 9:41am

WldKingdomHM said: "What a cast, but a nine piece band ?"

According to IBDB, the original production only lists 15 musicians, playing 9 instruments. Keyboard (3), guitar (2), percussion (2), french horn (2), and violin (2) have multiple players listed to make up the 15 number, 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 10:25am

And with music tech these days they may be able to achieve something that sounds more like the symphonic version.

Or this is just the band for the OOT and it’s scaled up for Broadway.

I guess we should be expecting this in the 2023-24 season. 

[A.J.]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 10:58am

I wonder if this production will be similar to the 2013 Stratford version McAnuff directed to mixed reviews. 
 

I’m getting a bit tired of these “reimagined” revivals which are just cheaper remounts of the original.

 

 

 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 1:21pm

A.J. said: "I wonder if this production will be similar to the 2013 Stratford version McAnuff directed to mixed reviews.

I’m getting a bit tired of these “reimagined” revivals which are just cheaper remounts of the original."

The Stratford production was more or less a recreation of the original production with updated tech. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. Aside from Des McAnuff the rest of the creative team seems to be entirely new. I’m especially excited to see what David Korins does with the scenic design.

[two ladies tickets]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 5:32pm

The 2013 Stratford Festival production was aiming to transfer to Broadway, but because their transfer of Jesus Christ Superstar, helmed by Des had flopped in NYC the season before the transfer of Tommy was scrapped. And yes, the 2013 Stratford production was more or less and updated re-creation of the original 93 production. Des McAnuff has been aiming to get Tommy back on Broadway in one way or another for a very long time. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/3/23 at 6:46pm

What about the one that played Denver not too long ago? Looked very cool.